5 21 16 morning call

Double session on the Lahaina side for me yesterday. I forgot the gopro at the shop so I can't show you the images from the water (I will tomorrow), but fortunately I took this one from the beach before leaving thousand peaks. The waves were only waist high, but the light offshore and the beautiful light and the usual breathtaking background made the session pleasurable.


Lots of talk on the internet of the new swell that is setting up for Fiji. Below is the Surfline forecast that shows a lovely 16f 16s for Monday. Is it their Monday or ours (they're one day ahead), I still have to figure that out. I would think it's their Monday.


This is a random map I ran into on facebook (not sure about the source) that shows how Fiji disrupts the flow of the swell for us. And there's a few more islands after Fiji too. It also shows how much more swell central and south America get in this time of the year.


This is a nice article, also because it shows some waves from the previously recorded big swells at Cloudbreak, including this amazing video.


After watching which, I got linked to this other video in which Kelly Slater commentates live on the show going on that day that they called the WSL contest off.

Back to the present, I'm pretty baffled by what Pat Caldwell wrote in his latest write-up: The Tasman sea swell due locally late Wednesday 5/18 was a no show. However, the SSE swell generated S to SE of French Polynesia 5/10-11 did come in higher than predicted by Wave Watch III, ww3, with breakers near the seasonal average 5/18-19.

It has happened already (not often though) that I disagreed with what my favorite Hawaii meteorologist has written in the last 15 years, but this is a big one. In my opinion, the SW swell did show up and quite strong too. Early morning yesterday Breakwall had occasional overhead sets and, with Lanai reading a direction of 223 (see yesterday's post), there is no doubt that that swell was coming from the Tasman Sea. At the same time, there wasn't much at the Barbers buoy I have to admit, so maybe it was a no show for Oahu, that's the only thing I can think.

Significant buoy readings 4am
Pauwela
4.4ft @ 8s from 62° (ENE)

Lanai
1.7ft @ 14s from 205° (SSW)

Windswell still not building to the levels it was predicted to, maybe tomorrow. The SW swell went a bit more south, but still clocking in at 1.7f 14s. I'm going to Lahaina again before work, expect a report from there.

Wind map shows the windswell fetch and a couple of insignificant NW ones.


South pacific still shows strong activity in the Tasman sea and a part of that fetch that has now moved east of New Zealand. That's a better angle for us, since there's no other land mass in the way.


Windguru shows the wind for today: strong again.